The Philippine Men’s National Football Team (PMNFT) battled back to secure a vital draw in AFC Asian Cup qualifying against Tajikistan on Tuesday night.
Here are my musings on the shared points in New Clark City where the PMNFT managed to salvage a draw against Tajikistan.
Three points should have been very doable. I took one look at the starting lineup of coach Carles Cuadrat’s Philippines squad and one word came to mind: WOW. This was a stacked eleven going forward. Leading the line was Bjorn Kristensen, already proven as a goal poacher for the Philippines. On one side Bundesliga-quality with Gerrit Holtman. On the other flank, pace and trickery in the form of Randy Schneider.
Another speedy midfielder in Zico Bailey caused problems as did Sandro Reyes. Pulling the strings from deep was the ageless Manny Ott. The team produced three chances from the left side early on in the game, and when Kristensen nodded in Holtmann’s free kick rebound, a goalfest looked imminent.
But then the visitors equalized minutes after with one of the worst goals I have ever seen a Philippine men’s national side let in. Jeff Tabinas tries to redirect a header sideways in front of his penalty box to Reyes. He should have headed it away from the box instead of playing it cute. Shervoni Mabatshoyev pounces on the loose ball but can do no better than a scuffed two-hopper. It should have been a basic save for keeper Kevin Mendoza, but it somehow filtered past him for 1-1. Two egregious errors in one ghastly concession.
The blunder was reminiscent of England custodian Robert Green’s howler against Clint Dempsey of the USA in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, a group game that ended in a 1-1 draw.
Mendoza is a quality keeper who plays in a highly pressurized environment for Indonesian champs Persib Bandung. He will bounce back.
Tajikistan took the lead from the penalty spot but a composed finish from MOTM Kristensen gave us the draw, but in reality it should have clearly been a win considering how much quality we had, both in the starting lineup and off the bench. Andre Leipold was, as expected, inserted into the second half and he was fantastic, forcing a great save from Tajik keeper Rustam Yatimov.
The two dropped points are painful. This draw has imperiled our campaign to reach the 2027 AFC Asian Cup.
A look at the Group A qualification table shows that had we taken all three points, we would have headed to the October FIFA window on six points from two games. We are better than Timor Leste, our home-and-away opponents in the next two games, and we should take maximum points. Had we won on Tuesday, we might be top of the group on twelve points with two matchdays in hand if we beat Timor Leste twice on October 9 and 14. It would have been a great position to be in and extremely important because only the group winner in this stage books their tickets to Saudi Arabia. But max points through four matches is impossible now. Only goal difference separates us from Tajikistan atop the group, on four points, one ahead of Timor Leste.
We have got to do this the hard way now. Defeat Timor Leste twice and hope for good results away at Maldives in November and away at Tajikistan in March.
The New Clark City Athletics Stadium is nice, but makes me yearn for a football-specific venue. Tuesday was my second time watching the national team in Tarlac. The attendance was more than 10,000, which was encouraging, and there was a festive vibe in the fan zone, which was noticeably bigger this time.
The middle of the upper grandstand on the east side was pretty packed, which was great, but I had a seat by the southeast corner, and even though I was in lower grandstand, the field felt very far away, and my view of Kristensen’s equalizer on the north end was distant.
This stadium lacks intimacy. Rizal Memorial is better in that respect because the field is close to the track, unlike the NCCAS, where there is plenty of room between the track and the seating. But I can’t help but yearn for a true football-specific venue.
It would be beyond awesome if we could have a track-less stadium that was specifically designed for football. With simple but steep stands that make football fans really feel like they are on top of the action. Where players can hear the cheers at every moment egging them on, creating a cauldron of emotion and excitement.
McKinley Hill Stadium could have been that stadium for Philippine football, but its pitch is way too small, and has other issues. Mall Of Asia Football Field would have been a candidate, but its capacity is insufficient for an international match.
My reference would be Jalan Besar Stadium in Singapore, a 6500-seater football specific stadium with a modern artificial turf. If we had something like that, then national team, PFL, UAAP, and other matches could all be held there.
I dream that somehow, some way, there is a 5 hectare patch of land somewhere inside or just outside Metro Manila where this could be built, possibly with commercial areas underneath it to make it more viable. But until football becomes as popular as hoops or volleyball, this likely remains a pipe dream.
A word on the departure of Albert Capellas. Just before Tuesday’s game PMNFT head coach Albert Capellas abruptly resigned, allegedly for “personal reasons,” with Cuadrat, his assistant, taking over. It was then reported that Capellas took on the role of Football Director at Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb.
This comes just a year after Belgian coach Tom Saintfiet departed after just a few games, to return to Africa and helm the Mali national team.
The position of coach of the Philippine Men’s National Football Team has been a revolving door for a very long time. There has been an astonishing FIFTEEN coaches of the Philippines since 2017, including England legend Terry Butcher, who was announced as the manager but backed down without once ever holding even a training session from what I recall. It is a mind-boggling rate of attrition, and one has to ask, “why?”
There may have well been issues with the previous management of the national team, that is certainly one reason. But Cuadrat has been the third different coach in the two years this current management has been in place.
The way I see it, the Philippines is in a tough spot for the coaching market. While I am not privy to the PFF coaching pay scale, I strongly suspect we cannot offer the kind of wage Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, or even Malaysia give to their national team coach. All of these nations are booming economically, all wealthier than us except maybe Vietnam, and all boast thriving football cultures and fan bases, making the sport far more economically sustainable and attractive to corporate sponsors.
The head coaching spot for the Philippines surely has some appeal for some gaffers because you aren’t set on just the players from the league. You can recruit from the diaspora. But the good coaches who come here probably see it as a stepping stone, a way-station in their careers rather than a place to put roots. I think this is what happened with Saintfiet and Capellas. Once they got better offers, they high-tailed it out of Manila.
Like any Filipino football fan I would like to see a good coach stick around for three years or so and build an identity and philosophy. Perhaps the only way we could do that is give a young, hungry, ambitious young manager a break, hope he succeeds, and sticks around for the long term. But a great coach is like a great new player at a club: eventually a bigger program will come and take him away. In our case, they have been doing that very early.
Maybe Cuadrat, a champion manager in the Indian league but with an otherwise middling CV, will be the guy to make the Philippines his second home. It remains to be seen. But we all want that revolving door to stop spinning at some point.
Banner Images from PFF.